Fêtedbut ultimately fated, Shaun Bailey numbered among the so-called Tatler Tories who failed spectacularly to live up to their hype on May 6th. The self-styled “kid from the estate” featured on Scrapbook during the election in relation to his profligate “charity” in Hammersmith. Accounts for My Generation show the operation could not account for a missing £15,952, spent exorbitant sums on back office administration and, amazingly for a supposedly local charity, £60,000 on travel.

Firefighting the growing scandal as election day closed in, Bailey’s team briefed national newspapers that monies had been allocated to incorrect categories in official accounts:

“What you are dealing with is a kid from the estate who had a good idea to do this and never had a wider view of accountants and lawyers. We have raised this money, spent it on the kids. We just didn’t know.” – Shaun Bailey

Indeed, when Scrapbook phoned My Generation a member of staff claimed that “what is in the accounts is not correct” and the charity planned to re-submit them.

But it seems Bailey’s self-promotion vehicle trundles still onwards after his election defeat, partnering with freesheet The Metro for a fundraising drive despite their topsy-turvy accounts. As with other My Generation publicity, Bailey was featured prominently:

With unsuspecting newspaper readers pouring yet more cash into the coffers of an organisation with extremely dubious accounting practices, one would hope charity regulators are treating the matter with some urgency. Despite an internal target of 15 days, however, Scrapbook understands the Charity Commission is yet to respond to an official complaint against the charity submitted nearly two months ago.

In the last few minutes a spokesperson told us:

We are assessing the concerns that were raised with us regarding the charity My Generation (charity registration number 1114167). Following our assessment we will be updating the complainant of the outcome. We expect this to be within the next few weeks.